Funeral director contradicts autopsy in patrol car death

Wednesday

Sep 25, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2013 at 6:04 AM

The funeral director who prepared for burial the body of the man hit and killed by a patrol car announced at a press conference Tuesday that the body had fractures, contrary to the findings reported by the medical examiner who did the autopsy.

By Patricio G. Balonapatricio.balona@news-jrnl.com

DELAND — The funeral director who prepared for burial the body of the man hit and killed by a police car announced at a press conference Tuesday that the body had fractures, contrary to the findings reported by the medical examiner who did the autopsy.The medical examiner, Shiping Bao, fired by Volusia County earlier this month, said in his report that Marlon Brown was not hit by the patrol car driven by DeLand Police Officer James Harris, and that Brown died of mechanical asphyxia from of the weight of the car. Bao also said that Brown did not have any fractures.But James E. Cusack, funeral director of J.E. Cusack Mortuary in DeLand, presented his findings accompanied by Benjamin Crump, the attorney representing Brown's ex-wife.“We are here to reveal information that tells us the medical examiner is inaccurate and at best was intentionally deceitful,” Crump said.Cusack prepared Brown for burial and said he saw evidence the popular Spring Hill barber was hit by the car. He said that Brown's vascular system was collapsed and that when he tried to inject liquids to embalm Marlon Brown, it would not flow through, indicating that there was breakage in the body's blood vessels. There were compound fractures to his skull and below the abdomen, Cusack said.“My conclusion is that Marlon Brown suffered trauma to the head and neck and had multiple fractures and contusions that come as a result of being hit by car,” Cusack said during the press conference at the Chisholm Community Center in DeLand. “He had compound fractures to the point that fluids would not go through.” When asked for comment, Volusia County spokesman Dave Byron said: “The autopsy speaks for itself.” Harris, who has since been fired for policy violations in the incident, struck and ran over Brown as he ran from a traffic stop on May 8 about 12:37 a.m. Harris and Officer Justin Ferrari had engaged Brown in a pursuit after a Volusia County deputy announced over the radio that Brown had fled from him as he tried to stop him for a seat belt violation. Brown ran from his car after pulling into an empty lot behind 960 Delaware Ave. and was struck and run over by Harris in a vegetable garden at a chain link fence. Brown was driving without a license and on probation after serving jail time for drug possession, one of 20 arrests on his record.Crump said that what Cusack observed was corroborated by the video taken from Harris' patrol car. The video shows the car appears to hit Marlon Brown. Crump also cited sections of deputy John Szabo's interview that said Marlon Brown “was on his stomach and he was just mangled” and that “his neck was not where it was supposed to be.”“This is a forceful violent impact between a human being and a police car,” Crump said.“This vital information that Mr. Crump has shared further shows that they lied to us,” said Krystal Brown, the ex-wife of Marlon Brown.The family fears that the medical examiner's report wrongly influenced the grand jury's decision not to indict Harris for vehicular homicide, Crump said.“Because we believe the grand jury based its decision on this inaccurate evidence, we are demanding that an independent investigation be done and that the evidence be presented again to a grand jury,” Crump said.Crump said he hopes that pressure from the public will get the attention of a different “prosecutorial agency” and people who have the authority to look into Marlon Brown's case.Requests for an independent investigation from agencies had not yet been made “as we are trying to get all our ducks in a row,” Crump said.Krystal Brown was shocked to learn of the jury's decision, especially after what she was told by Cusack, Crump said.Harris did not make a statement after the crash and has not spoken publicly since Brown's death.“The medical examiner saying that the vehicle rolled and stopped on top of Marlon Brown is pleasant to the ear but it's not what happened,” Crump said. “To suggest that Officer Harris' reckless conduct did not cause Marlon Brown's death is not true.”